Vogue will stop hiring models under the age of 18.
The fashion magazine made the change to stop the promotion of young, “vulnerable” models, who are too often competing for work in an industry “where they have little control.”
The move comes as a bid to make the fashion industry less exploitative and safer for underage women.
In Vogue’s September issue, Maya Singer explained why the publication had decided to make the change.
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She wrote:
“Vogue, along with a number of other publications, has played a role in making it routine for children – since that’s what they are – to be dressed and marketed as glamorous adults.
“No more: It’s not right for us, it’s not right for our readers, and it’s not right for the young models competing to appear in these pages. While we can’t rewrite the past, we can commit to a better future.”
Singer pointed to the 1980 February issue of Vogue, when a then 14-year-old Brooke Shields appeared on the cover.
She also appeared on the cover the following year, aged 15.
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Since then, many underage models have appeared in the pages of the magazine as part of fashion editorials. However, Singer said that this won’t be the case from now on, unless he or she is the subject of the article.
In this case, the photos will be styled in an age-appropriate manner and the model will be chaperoned.
Singer went on:
“A shift to using models eighteen and older on the runway won’t solve every problem for models or for fashion or for the world that’s helped mold the industry into its current shape.
“Promising teens will continue to be signed, no doubt, but agencies will need to invest more time and resources in their models’ development, particularly as they adapt to the demands of video and social media.”
